Optimistic, integrated and devout

The special Guardian/ICM poll shows that British Muslims live less segregated lives than many might imagine, with more than 60% saying they count "a lot" or "quite a few" non-Muslim people among their closest friends.

The survey of 500 Muslims shows them surprisingly optimistic about their position in British life, with 44% saying they expect it to get better as against 33% who say it will get worse.

There is a strong desire not to lead separate lives, with the 40% who say the Muslim community needs to do more to integrate into mainstream British culture far outweighing the 20% who believe that things have moved too far already.

A disturbing one in three - 38% - said they or their family had personally experienced hostility or abuse from non-Muslims because of their religion.

When it comes to religion and marriage, there is a strong gender split, with 84% of Muslim women saying they would never consider marrying a non-Muslim compared with only 44% of men.

This split is mirrored in the responses to the question about how often people pray, with 68% of women saying they pray five times a day compared with 46% of men. But the fact that a majority of the British Muslim community say they do pray five times a day, every day, is a strong illustration of the absolutely central role religion plays in their lives.

It is therefore no surprise to discover that 88% want to see schools and offices provide prayer facilities and 81% back the government's proposal to introduce a law to make incitement to religious hatred a criminal offence.

· ICM interviewed a random sample of 500 Muslim people by telephone between November 15 and 21 2004. The data has not been weighted because there is no authoritative source of demographic information on the Muslim population. ICM abides by the rules of the British Polling Council.